A magistrate has barred the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the media from discussing the merits of the attempted murder case by DJ Evolve against Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
The interim gag order in the case against Babu Owino over the shooting and serious wounding of DJ Evolve, real name Felix Orinda, will remain in force until August 8.
Senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi issued the order after Owino’s lawyers sought the court’s intervention to bar discussion of the matter outside the court.
The order will remain until the MP’s application for total ban on commenting on the case is heard and determined. The vocal Babu Owino made the application for total gag against the media but that has not been heard yet.
But senior assistant DPP Jacinta Nyamosi argued that the ODM MP, suspected to have tried to kill DJ Evolve at a city club, has also been commenting on the case.
Lawyer Cliff Ombeta raised an objection accusing the office of the DPP of inciting Embakasi East constituents to recall Owino as Member of Parliament.
“The DPP has gone publicly on record asking the members of his constituency to recall him. He has gone out of his mandate and therefore if he is going to stand here he needs to avoid that political angle,” Ombeta said.
“It’s affecting the emotions of the accused person. The DPP needs to stick to his line,” the lawyer intimated.
Nyamosi invited Owino’s lawyers to collect and peruse the witness statements.
There was wide public outrage after NTV aired an interview with Orinda in which the DJ painfully narrated how since undergoing surgery after being shot he struggled to talk and execute any task for himself.
Owino is alleged to have shot and seriously injured the DJ at B club in Kilimani on January 17 and was charged with attempted murder before being freed on bond.
Hearing of the case is yet to start.
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